Continuity and caution key to China-Africa ties in Xi Jinping’s third term
- Expert says African countries are central to China’s leadership ambitions on global stage
- But mounting debt pressures have seen projects under Belt and Road Initiative scaled down
China’s diplomatic and economic engagement with Africa has risen under President Xi Jinping to become the continent’s largest trading partner and main source of project finance.
Xi did not mention Africa directly in the speech he delivered at the opening of the Communist Party’s national congress on October 16, but observers said the continent would continue to play a key role in China’s global ambitions.
Paul Nantulya, a research associate at the Africa Centre for Strategic Studies at the National Defence University in Washington, said Xi’s third term as Communist Party general secretary would help maintain continuity in China-Africa relations, which had arguably reached their apex under Xi.
He said Xi had inherited an African policy that was already on an upwards trajectory under his predecessor, Hu Jintao, and to some extent Hu’s predecessor Jiang Zemin, who founded the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.
“Xi, however, is a much stronger and more consequential leader than Hu and Jiang, and doubtlessly the most powerful leader to rule China since Mao,” Nantulya said. “The 20th party congress has reconfirmed Xi’s status as ‘core leader’ – a formal title conferred on him in 2016 which means he has near-absolute authority over party policy and direction.”